Point of View

Artist’s model is naked but her mind is
Cluttered as a vanity table top
Blue bottle of rosewater too sentimental to throw out
Bobby pins, unpaid bills, parking ticket
Initials written in spilled powder;
Two steaming artichokes
Laundry basket full of whites…

Or maybe a topo map of Venus
What radar writes—white for smooth, black for crag
Planet behind the veil of clouds
A bridal modesty
Or relief map of two lovers
Twined, entwined, highway numbers, names of relief routes
Towns named Fountain or Desire.

This might be Paris, or Nebraska
Overheated studio
Arms crossed, bare breasts
She knows
What we don’t know
Who she has loved, what the clothes
Hung neatly on the peg cost,
Their material, rayon or silk
What she has lost…
And looking out
Head on her hand
Sees what your face reflects
Drawing her.